When Harry Met Veronica
by QueenCate
Summary: Veronica and her fellow FBLAers travel to England where she has a run in with certain boy wizard. Veronica MarsHarry Potter crossover. Mid season 2, post HBP. AU for recent episodes.
1. Exes and Hexes

A smile tugged at the corners of Veronica's mouth as her boyfriend came into view, a broad smile lighting up his own face. When he neared, she reached out and took his hand. "Hey, you," she greeted him with a kiss.

"Hi. Sorry I'm late," he apologized as Veronica handed him his ticket and they got in line. "Almost forgot my passport."

Veronica smiled again. "It's fine. I'm just glad you got here when you did otherwise I might have had to sit with Beav – I mean Cassidy, or worse. Dick." She pretended to stick her finger down her throat, causing him to grin.

"Guess you're lucky to have me, then."

"Oh, yeah," she answered, reaching up to kiss him. "Super lucky."

"Next," the airline employee called impatiently.

"Oops, I think that's us," Veronica said, stepping forward.

The woman looked irritated. "Maybe you two should just get a room and take a later flight. I'm pretty sure I speak for all the other passengers when I say no one wants to see you make out all flight."

Veronica's mouth opened indignantly. "Excuse me? Did you forget your Midol this morning or what?"

"You have to admit, Ronnie, you two are pretty sickening," a familiar voice said from behind them, a voice both Veronica and Duncan knew the owner of without having to turn around. Veronica's eyes closed in annoyance and she took a deep breath, but Logan went on before she could reply. "Miss, I apologize wholeheartedly for my friends' behavior and I will personally see to it that they behave themselves on the flight like the good little children they are."

The woman just rolled her eyes and waved Veronica and Duncan through. The couple boarded the plane as quickly as possible, trying to put as much space between them and Logan as they could. But of course, since the universe hated them, Logan appeared in front of them yet again only a few minutes later.

"46A, 46B," He indicated to the numbers by Veronica and Duncan's seats then waved his ticket before continuing, "What do you know? 46C. Is that a coin-ki-dink, or what?"

Veronica rolled her eyes and Duncan looked away in annoyance as Logan settled next to him.

"Guess I won't have any trouble keeping that promise to the stewardess, huh?" Logan snapped his fingers rudely. "Miss, peanuts would quite enjoyable right now."

Veronica leaned close to Duncan and whispered. "Why, oh why, did I join FBLA?"

"To be close to me?" Duncan suggested with a slight smile.

Veronica smiled back. "Yeah, but why could we both have joined pep squad or something?"

"I don't know if I could pull off those shorts, but I always liked them on you. I think we both lack the peppiness those pep squad girls have, though."

Veronica put on a look of mock disappointment. "Curse those plastic surgeons of theirs, making them feel good about themselves."

Duncan laughed and Logan glanced over.

"Secrets, secrets, are no fun unless you share with everyone," he sang out.

The other two rolled their eyes in unison and Veronica asked the stewardess for two pairs of headphones.

--x--

"Tell me again why Mr. Pope is making all of us FBLA-ers make a field trip to England."

Duncan shrugged. "He said the winner of that investment contest would get to pick out the field trip. Beaver won and this is where he chose."

"I so should have won. I'm still convinced Cassidy cheated," Veronica declared.

"Nah, that's a Dick thing."

"Yeah, if Dick was smart enough to think of it. Hence his finishing last, right under you," she teased. "Besides, if Dick had grown a brain and won we'd probably be in TJ right now, surrounded by strippers."

With a laugh, Duncan nodded his agreement and opened his mouth to answer when someone knocked into him and he almost fell over. "Hey, watch it!" he yelled after the dark-haired boy.

"Sorry," the boy called back before being shuffled away by two other people, a boy and a girl.

"Smooth, DK. Real smooth," Logan commented as he walked up next to them.

"Shove it," Duncan muttered. He grabbed Veronica's hand and led her away, leaving a smirking Logan behind.

After clearing it with Mr. Pope, the couple went off in search of a restaurant. Veronica pointed out a cute little bistro down the street and they walked towards it, but before they could reach it, the same dark-haired boy from before dashed in front of them and down a nearby alley. Veronica took a step forward to see where he was running to and her breath caught in her throat. The boy had drawn a wooden stick and curiously enough, sparks were shooting from the tip. A blast of red light shot out of it and hit a man clutching a stick of his own, knocking him over. The boy bent over him for a second and then straightened, holding the other man's stick. With loud pops, the boy's two friends appeared on either side of him. Both stared down at the prone figure, but the girl's eyes strayed to Veronica's stricken face and her own expression changed to mirror Veronica's.

"Harry," she said, pointing to Veronica. "I think we have a problem."


	2. Odd connections and wary glances

---x---

Harry heaved a heavy sigh at the sight of the two teenagers staring at them from the other end of the alley. Great, two memories to modify. Just terrific. The boy looked vaguely familiar and Harry puzzled over it for a second before realizing it was the boy that Harry had knocked into at the airport during his search for McNair, the man laying unconscious at his feet. Wanting to get it over with a quickly as possible, Harry approached the couple carefully.

"Hullo," he greeted them calmly.

"Hi," the girl said slowly, her eyes narrowed shrewdly. Her mouth, which had been hanging open almost as much as her boyfriend's a moment ago, had closed and she looked as if she was thinking quickly. "You're some kind of wizard aren't you? And that was your wand?"

It was Harry's turn to stare calculatingly. The girl was smart. A little too smart for his liking. Perhaps honesty was the best move here. He needed to get their guard down so he could modify their memories. Less of a chance for mistakes resulting in total memory loss, a la Lockhart. "Yes, I am. And yes, it is."

The girl nodded, biting her lip. "This is insane. I don't know why I'm not checking myself into the nut house right now. But I believe you." She turned to her boyfriend. "How is that we're always in the middle of the weirdest situations?"

The boyfriend smiled nervously and answered, "It's the curse of Neptune. Or maybe just Lilly amusing herself."

The girl seemed to find the second suggestion funny and grinned. "Probably."

Harry's hand inched to his wand slowly, so as not to draw the couples' attention to it. The girl, however, must have been watching him out of the corner of her eye and had some sort of taser out in a flash. "Don't try it. I'm not afraid to use this."

Ron and Hermione started to rush forward, but Harry motioned for them to stay back. Obviously it would take a little more than usual to get this girl's memory modified. "What's your name?" Harry asked calmly, as though there wasn't a charged stun gun inches pointed at him.

"Veronica Mars," she answered tightly. "Yours?"

Thinking quickly, Harry said, "James Evans."

"Right and I'm Marilyn Monroe. I can tell you're lying. Especially since your little friend called you Harry a few seconds ago. What's your real name?"

Harry sighed. "Harry Potter…Are you gonna put that thing away?"

"Nope," Veronica told him, positioning herself so that Harry blocked her from his friends. "I've had a really bad year and getting attacked by a wizard isn't high on my list of priorities. I've got a bus crash to solve and a murderer to put behind bars first."

Harry glanced up and down the street and motioned for Veronica to step into the alley and out of view. After a moment of deliberation, she obeyed, beckoning her boyfriend to follow.

"Look, I'm not going to kill you," Harry explained. "You're just gonna have to trust me on that. I need to modify your memory is all. Muggles aren't allowed to know about magic."

"What are the chances this could go wrong?" Veronica asked. She couldn't afford to lose her memories of the past year. Not when Aaron Echolls's conviction depended on them.

"Um, well, I've only done it a few times. Okay, once," Harry admitted.

Veronica eyed him. "Why do I get the feeling you aren't so good at this?"

"'Cause he's not," his red-haired friend chimed in.

"Shush, Ron!" the girl admonished him.

"Yeah, shut up, mate. Lockhart was your fault," Harry pointed out. "Or, your wand's fault, anyway."

The boy – Ron – reddened, especially in the ears and looked away.

"Listen, Harry, I can't afford for anything to go wrong. I'm the main witness in the trial of my best friend's murderer. Duncan here is a minor witness, since he found her body, knows the murderer, and can bear witness to the authenticity of the tapes I found. She was his sister. Her murderer needs to go to jail, but if this spell or charm or whatever backfires, he could walk free. Please," she begged, "Just let me keep my memory. I promise I won't tell anyone. You can trust me. I don't have anyone to tell, even if I wanted to. My only friend besides Duncan is living in Chicago and avoiding my calls and emails. Oh, and my next closest thing to a friend is in coma and she hates me." Veronica sounded desperate but she didn't care. She was actually banking on it persuading Harry not to perform the spell or whatever it was he wanted to do.

Harry stared at the girl. Was it possible he had found the one person whose life was just as screwed up as his own?

"Harry," Hermione said from behind him. He knew without looking that she wanted him to take pity on the girl before him. Somehow, he trusted her and knew she would keep her word and not tell anyone about them and their magic.

"Yeah, all right," he told her.

She rewarded him with a relieved grin that seemed to light up the surrounding area. "Thank you." She grabbed her still stunned boyfriend's arm and made to leave, but Harry called her back.

"Wait." He was intrigued by this American girl. What could it hurt to just talk with her a bit, get to know more about her? After all, it might do him some good to talk to someone new, someone who knew what it was like to have a twisted, screwed up life.

Veronica turned warily.

"I haven't changed my mind," Harry assured. "I was just wondering if you'd care to join us for lunch."

Veronica raised her eyebrows. She glanced over at her boyfriend, who shrugged resignedly. "Sure, I guess," she agreed finally.

Harry smiled. For some reason, her agreement filled him such a strong, yet puzzling, sense of relief. He turned to Ron. "Would you take care of him?" He eyed McNair with undisguised distaste. "See that he gets to Tonks or Kingsley."

Ron nodded and reaching down, he grabbed McNair's hand (not without making a face at having to touch the "slimy git") and disappeared with a loud pop.

Veronica seemed startled, but managed to stifle a gasp. She stepped on her boyfriend's foot to keep him from doing the same.

"Shall we?" Hermione asked, stepping out of the shadows.

"We shall," Veronica replied. "Duncan and I were just heading to a little bistro down the street."

"Sounds good," Hermione said, sounding oddly cheerful. Harry could tell she was apprehensive about keeping this girl around and by the suspicious looks Veronica kept discreetly shooting Hermione, she knew it, too.

---x---

A/N: Updates will almost definitely not be this frequent most of the time. After I wrote chapter 1 and posted it on another site, I completely forgot to post it here and I didn't remember to put it here until I finished chapter 2 last night. I will update as frequently as possible, just not this quickly. Thanks for the reviews!


	3. Friends, Enemies, and Frienemies

_Hey, all. Updates are taking longer than expected, what with my stupid arm and upcoming midterms and everything else. Plus I'm still not sure exactly where I'm taking this. But I hope you all like the new chapter!_

---x---

A bell jangled overhead as the unlikely group entered the restaurant. Veronica pointed to an isolated corner booth where it was less likely they would be overheard. Harry nodded his approval and they settled in, an awkward silence filling the air.

"So…" Duncan started in an attempt to break the silence. "Anybody seen the new King Kong movie?"

Veronica rolled her eyes, but couldn't keep from smiling.

Harry and Hermione quickly shook their heads and a voice from behind asked, "What's a movie?" Ron had returned, sans Death Eater.

Duncan stared in disbelief. "You've never heard of movies?"

Hermione chimed in. "Muggle devices don't work properly around magic."

This statement just confused Duncan more. Even Veronica had a puzzled, if slightly amused, look on her face. "Muggles?" he asked.

"That's the wiz –" Harry broke off at a sharp elbow from Hermione. "Sorry, that's our term for regular people. You know, non-magic ones." His voice lowered on the word 'magic.' "Better?" he asked Hermione.

Hermione did her best not to look affronted and replied, "Quite. Ron, stop staring like a first year and sit down."

A dark look flashed across Ron's face and he looked about to retort but caught a warning glance from Harry and instead obeyed, taking a seat next to Harry.

"So, I'm guessing you haven't seen King Kong then?" Veronica asked lightly, trying to break the tension that was flying about.

Ron shook his head, his ears turning red. He seemed to be debating something in his head and finally asked Veronica, "Are you part veela?"

Harry and Hermione exchanged incredulous looks before bursting into hysterics. Duncan shot Veronica yet another confused look, which she replied to with a shrug.

"Should I be insulted?" she asked.

"No," Harry told her. "It's nothing bad. It's quite a compliment, actually."

"Oh, thanks then…Ready to order?" she asked, partially to change the subject but mostly because the waitress was heading their way.

Everyone nodded, Harry and Hermione wiping tears of mirth from their eyes.

"It wasn't that funny," Ron told them, his ears flaming.

"Yeah, it was, mate," Harry said, grabbing a menu.

Just as the waitress walked away from their table, the bell over the door chimed, signaling the arrival of another customer. Veronica was trying to start a conversation with Hermione, who still seemed rather cautious towards her, and didn't even look up at first.

"I'll be right with you, sir," their waitress said on her way back to the kitchen.

"All righty. I'll be sitting right over there," the new arrival answered.

Veronica groaned. Beside her, Duncan took a deep, calming breath.

"Lilly's having a real good time up there, isn't she?" Veronica asked softly.

Duncan nodded, smiling slightly. Harry glanced over at the name 'Lily.' These people couldn't mean his mother, could they? But before he could question it, they were interrupted by a ringing cell phone and the arrival of the source of Veronica and Duncan's annoyance, flanked by two cronies. Harry was reminded forcibly of Malfoy, Crabbe, and Goyle.

"My two _favorite_ people!" the ringleader exclaimed.

Duncan rolled his eyes. "What do you want, Logan?"

Logan couldn't resist taking a dig at Duncan, even if they had kissed and made up. "Just to hang out with my best friend. You haven't seen him, have you? He's about six feet tall, brown hair, sticks by you when your life is going to hell. No? Too bad. I kinda miss him."

Anger flushed across Duncan's face and he tensed. "You mean the friend that let you move into his suite when you went and got your house burned down? The same friend that's been picking up your messes for years?"

"Yeah, you're doing a real good job of that." Logan cast a pointed glance at Veronica.

Veronica's eyes blazed. She couldn't take Logan's digs and insults anymore. "Logan, we broke up. Get over it. Go see Kendall if you're so lonely."

"Whoa, dude. Harsh," Dick said. A slightly pained expression crossed his face. He was thinking. "I think somebody's jealous of Logan and Kendall!"

Veronica just fixed him with a dirty look. "Wow that only took you two minutes to think up. Is that a record?"

Cassidy laughed, but stopped short as Dick elbowed him in the ribs. "Dude!" He swung at his older brother. Dick grinned and blocked the punch before landing one of his own in her brother's stomach. Fighting was one the few areas he was good in.

Hermione was watching the group avidly. "You two are brothers, aren't you?"

The Casablancas brothers halted their fight and turned to the young witch. Dick leered at her, giving her a sweeping glance before saying, "How you doin'?"

The others rolled their eyes.

"You're stealing pick-up lines from _Friends_?" Hermione asked.

Dick looked taken aback. "How'd you know? You guys watch that show in England?"

Logan groaned along with everyone else. "Beav, take your brother and get him out of here before he gets himself into trouble."

Cassidy gave him a reproachful look and said, "It's Cassidy, not Beaver."

"Right, because Cassidy such a great name." Logan snorted. "Now take your aptly named brother and vamoose."

Cassidy grudgingly obeyed. He told Dick that there was a party in one of the hotel's suites and his brother practically dragged him back to the hotel.

Logan smirked. "Now that the Odd Couple is gone, how's everybody doing on this fine day?"

Veronica studied him carefully, not saying anything.

"All right, I'll bite. What is it, Veronica? You figure out some other crime I supposedly committed or are you really just jealous?"

"Nope." Veronica tapped her chin thoughtfully. "I'm just wondering if maybe you and Dick were switched at birth. You do so deserve the name."

"Oh, ha, ha, ha, Veronica. Very funny."

"I thought so." Veronica cell phone rang, cutting off any possible retort Logan may have had. "Hello…Wait, Dad, slow down!" Veronica said loudly, a panicked look forming on her face. Even Logan looked concerned, which was really something these days. "He what? When? Oh, God," she whispered, her eyes growing wide with obvious terror. "No, I'm gonna stay here in England. It's probably safer here…Yeah, I'll call you later…Promise." She snapped the phone shut and stared into space for a second, looking like she was about to cry.

"Veronica, what –" Duncan's question was cut off by the simultaneous ringing his and Logan's cell phones.

"Hello?" Duncan answered just as Logan said, "Yeah?"

Both guys listened intently for a moment. Veronica watched them, pretty sure she knew what the calls were about, and concentrated on not hyperventilating. A few moments later, they each hung up and the former best friends exchanged looks before turning to look at Veronica, the fearful, slightly panicked looks on their faces confirming her suspicions.

"What is it?" Harry asked, starting to get worried.

"He got out," Veronica answered shakily, as if she didn't believe it, still not taking her eyes off Logan and Duncan.

"Who? Who got out?" Hermione asked.

"My dad," Logan rasped.


	4. Goodbyes and Salutations

An uneasy silence settled over the group for a moment only to be punctuated by short, panicked gasps.

"Veronica?" Duncan asked, concerned.

"It's just…I can't…he can't be…" Veronica stopped, sobs overtaking her.

"Shhh," Duncan whispered, pulling her close, looking slightly startled by her breakdown. This new Veronica was tough, she never cried in front of people. He had only seen her do so on two occasions: when she found out the truth about Shelley's party and when she realized the bus crash may have been meant for her.

Logan stepped over and squatted down next to them. "Veronica…Veronica, look at me."

Slowly, Veronica lifted her head off Duncan's chest, swiping at her eyes. "What?"

"If anyone can relate to what you're feeling right now, it's me. That asshole is my…my father."

A shadow of a smile flickered at the corners of her mouth. "Yeah, I guess so. I just don't understand why anyone would steal those tapes. If they weren't missing, he'd still be rotting in prison where he belongs." Aaron's lawyer had literally jumped for joy when he heard of the tapes' disappearing act and, apparently, had immediately bribed every judge in Balboa County, most of whom were friends of Aaron's and hadn't believed the charges to begin with, to dismiss the statutory rape and murder charges and allow Aaron out on bail for the attempted murder and assault charges. It was Neptune at it's finest.

Logan looked away, guilt darkening his boyishly cute features. "Yeah," he whispered.

Harry cleared his throat, reminding the three that he and his friends were still there and that the entire restaurant was staring at them with undisguised curiosity.

Veronica sat up, wiping her eyes with the back of her hand. "Sorry. I don't…really have an explanation, actually. None that wouldn't take a whole day, anyway."

"It's quite alright…" Hermione trailed off, her gaze drifting to the window. She whipped back around and continued, "We have to be going now, anyway."

"What –?" Harry was cut off by a stomp on his foot, which he passed on to Ron when he opened his mouth the echo Harry a few seconds later.

"Let's go," Hermione said, her voice deceptively cheery as she shot her friends dark warning glares.

Ron still looked confused, but thankfully didn't say anything as they bid the Americans goodbye and exited the café.

Veronica watched them go, curiosity niggling at the back of her mind. She shook it off, turning back to the crisis at hand. "We have to find those tapes."

Duncan and Logan stared at her in surprise. "How do you propose we do that, Nancy?" Logan asked.

"Well, Joe, we start by getting Internet records for every computer in the Sheriff's Department. They all received emails from someone asking for the tapes. We just have to trace the email address to find our thief."

"And what if this thief doesn't have the tapes anymore?" Logan avoided her gaze as he asked this.

"Then we find out who does." Three stared at one another for a long moment. "Frank, Joe, let's get cracking. We've got some tapes to find."

-x-

"What was that all about?" Harry asked as soon as the door to the restaurant swung shut behind them.

"I saw one of Fawkes's feathers appear in the window," Hermione explained. "We should get back to Grimmauld Place."

"Right. Should we hide behind the dumpster and Apparate back?" Harry asked.

Hermione nodded her consent and a few minutes later they were standing on the deadened grass in front of Number 12, Grimmauld Place. The sight of the house still caused a dull ache in Harry's heart along with a flood of bittersweet memories. They approached the heavy front door but before they could even climb the cement stairs onto the stoop, the door swung open with a bang. Remus Lupin hurried out and rushed them inside.

"You know it's not safe to linger outside headquarters," he admonished them as he carefully shut the door, so as not to wake Mrs. Black portrait.

"Right, sorry," Harry said quickly. "What happened? We saw the feather."

Molly Weasley bustled into the hall. "It's nothing terrible, dear. You just need to clear the rest of your belongings out of the Dursleys' before they get rid of it."

Harry frowned.

"Would you like me to go for you?" Mrs. Weasley offered, seeing the dark look on his face.

"No, it's fine," Harry assured her. "I'll just take Ron and Hermione to help me, if it's okay with them."

"Of course," his friends said in unison.

-x-

"Well, that's the last of it," Harry declared, handing a box to Hermione. The whole process had only taken about ten minutes. He had never had many possessions. The Dursleys had been kind enough to see to that. He, Ron, and Hermione each had only a small box that they would Floo back to Grimmauld Place with.

"You're leaving, then?" Vernon asked eagerly. "For good?"

"Yeah and trust me, no one is happier about it than me," Harry informed him. He wanted to watch his uncle's amazing color-changing face one last time.

Predictably, Vernon's face turned redder than usual and he began spluttering. "You – the nerve – how dare you!"

"Well, goodbye," Harry called a few minutes later, after Vernon had calmed down, before stepping close to the fireplace and digging in his pocket for a bit of Floo powder.

The Dursleys had returned to their time-honored 'ignore Harry' routine and were focused on the television. Harry was about to leave when he heard a familiar name: Veronica Mars. He turned back and quietly watched the news story on an actor who had slept with and killed his son's girlfriend and then kidnapped and tried to kill that same son's new girlfriend, Veronica, when she discovered the truth. A picture of Veronica dirtied and bleeding, standing next to her heavily bandaged father as he lay on a stretcher, convinced Harry of the idea that had been formulating in the back of his mind ever since they left the restaurant. He had to help Veronica. If only so that he had a chance at winning back his 'Most Screwed-Up Teen' award.

---x---

Hope you all liked it. I'm terribly sorry for the wait. I've had no time and a horrible case of writer's block. But hopefully that's gone now so I should be updating a bit more frequently. No promises, but I'm trying.


	5. Surprises and Kisses

---x---

"We have to help Veronica." Harry's friends looked up from their lunches – they had never actually gotten to eat back at the restaurant – in curiosity.

"You mean the girl from the alley?" Hermione asked. "Help her with what?"

Harry didn't answer. He just dropped a copy of a celebrity magazine on the table. Ron leaned over and glanced at the front cover.

"Who's Jessica Simpson?" Ron asked curiously. "And why does anyone care that she's getting a divorce?"

"Shut it, Ron," Hermione said dangerously. "Jess and Nick happen to be one of the greatest couples in all of Hollywood."

Harry and Ron stared at her disbelievingly, Harry especially, as he actually knew what she was talking about. "You're not serious," he said.

Hermione blushed. "Sorry, summers can be quite boring and everyone back home watches MTV."

Harry shook his head, making a mental note to tease her about it more later, and flipped through the magazine until he found the article he wanted.

Hermione took it eagerly, glad for the change of subject, and looked at the headline. She raised her eyebrows slightly and began reading feverishly. "Oh my," she whispered when she finished. "She could give you a run for your money in the drama department, Harry."

"Yeah, and I get the feeling that isn't even the half of it." He ran his fingers through his hair unconsciously, mussing his hair even further. Realizing what he was doing, he smiled softly. He knew the kind of pain Veronica had. And for that reason alone, he had to help her if he could. From what he had seen on the news before the Dursleys' chased him out, Aaron Echolls had covered every base – every Muggle base, that is. But there was no way he could shield himself from magical investigations. A plan was forming in Harry's mind already. He would tell Hermione about it before he left to track down Veronica so that she could fine tune it. The only thing left was to convince Veronica for let him help. He had a feeling she would be less than willing to trust him, giving that her memories had taken on a whole new importance.

-x-

"Hey, Vinnie. It's Veronica."

"I figured I'd be hearing from you sooner or later. I'm assuming you need a favor, so what can I do you for, Blondie? Unless, of course, you've finally come around to the idea of working for me. In which case, I'm gonna need you to stop telling people that I wear a wig."

"I'm hurt that you would assume I told people you wear a wig. I simply mentioned to a few people that I saw you looking at toupees the other day. That's all." Logan and Duncan shot Veronica questioning looks but she ignored them. "But you were right, quite possibly for the first time ever. I need a favor."

"Good, things have been a little boring around here without you."

"I'm touched," Veronica said in a slightly mocking voice, putting her hand to her heart. "Now listen up. I need you to get me the Internet records and email inboxes for everyone in the Sheriff's Department."

Vinnie let out a low whistle. "You don't do anything small, do you?"

"Look at it this way. You'll have something to do this Saturday night besides watching Golden Girls reruns with your mother."

"Hey, those girls are great."

"I'm sure they are, Vinnie. And I'm also sure you're therapist would agree."

"She does. We discuss the episodes at the beginning of every session."

"As long as you have that something special to live for."

Veronica ended the call a few minutes later and led the way back to the hotel where they ran into Cassidy and very ticked off Dick.

"Dude! That was so not cool!" Dick yelled to his brother as Veronica and the guys approached them.

"Let me guess, you found out there's no party." Dick saw her and a frightened look settled on his face.

"No, there really was a party. We ended up playing Truth or Dare and he didn't like the dare I gave him."

Logan smirked. "Did he dare you to go a month without sex?"

Dick shook his head slowly, looking pained. "Worse."

The others stared at him in shock while Cassidy burst into hysterical laughter, clutching his stomach.

"What's could be worse than that for you, Dick?" Duncan asked in disbelief.

Cassidy stopped laughing long enough to say, "Why don't you tell them, Dickie? Or better yet – show them!"

Dick gave his little brother a murderous look before taking a step forward, grabbing a stunned Veronica, and planting a kiss right on her lips. Veronica eyes grew wide and she pulled away as the initial shock wore off. She stumbled backwards, swiping at her mouth.

"Dick!" she yelled. No one was quite sure how she meant that.

Duncan walked forward and swung at Dick, landing a punch right in his gut. Dick groaned and doubled over. "Dude," he gasped.

"You say dude way too many times," Duncan commented.

"Duncan, just stop," Veronica said softly, reaching out and taking his arm gently. "It's just a dumb dare."

At that moment, Logan let out a gasp. They turned to look and discovered why he had been uncharacteristically silent during the entire scene. He had fallen over, laughing so hard that he had made no noise until that second. He sat up, still shaking with laughter and wiped his eyes. "That…was the funniest thing…I have ever seen!" he gasped.

Veronica stared at Logan for a second. Then her gaze traveled, first to Dick, who was just catching his breath again, then to the bewildered people standing in the hotel lobby (thankfully none of their classmates were around) and let out a giggle, and another, and another, until she was rolling on the marble tiles, which set Logan off again. Duncan joined them despite himself. And Cassidy had never quite stopped laughing. Dick, on the other hand, stalked off, shaking his head in anger.

"Thanks for that, Beav – _Cassidy_. Even if I'll probably get an STD or two from it, I needed a good laugh." Veronica took Duncan proffered hand and allowed him to pull her to her feet.

"Believe me, Veronica. It was my pleasure," Cassidy assured her.

"I don't know," Logan said. "I think it was more Dick's pleasure than anyone else's, not that he'd show it."

"Oh, gross, Logan," Veronica exclaimed with a little laugh.

Duncan had just opened his mouth to say something when the sound of shattering glass filled the air followed by a whizzing noise as something dark red flew past the group in a blur. Unbeknownst to the guys, the blur – a brick – grazed the side of Veronica's head just enough to throw her to the ground once again, unconscious and bleeding. A second later, Duncan threw himself over her with the intent of shielding her from the falling shards of glass, not realizing that she hadn't fallen to the floor of her volition. When the last of the glass had fallen, Logan risked a glance upward, eyes landing on the brick, more specifically the note tied to it. He scrambled over to it, unfolded the note hurriedly, and read aloud: "Watch your back, bitch. Or you'll end up like your tramp friend."

Duncan's head whipped up and he rushed over to Logan to read the note for himself, followed closely by Cassidy, none of them noticing that Veronica hadn't moved an inch and that blood was now pooling around her head at an alarming rate.

"This is meant for Veronica," Duncan declared, horrified.

"Dear old Dad," Logan muttered bitterly.

"Veronica, we've gotta take this to the police." He glanced over at Veronica, realizing for the first time that she wasn't standing next to him. "Veronica?" He made his way over to her, eyes widening in terror and fear as he took in her unmoving body and the puddle of blood beside it. "Veronica!" he screamed, panicked, as he dropped to his knees next to her. "Somebody call an ambulance!" he yelled, reaching down and feeling for a pulse. Logan and Cassidy crowded around them, Logan dialing a number on his cell phone.

"C'mon, Veronica, wake up," Duncan pleaded with her. "Please be okay."

A siren wailed far off in the distance, more likely because of the broken window than their 911 call, as Logan had only just gotten through to the operator. After several minutes that seemed to stretch into hours, the police arrived, ambulance right behind them. The paramedics ran in, carrying a stretcher which they loaded Veronica onto, and hurried out. Duncan followed. "Let me come with you. She's my girlfriend."

The paramedic nodded and Duncan climbed in back. He looked back at his friends. Logan saw him looking and yelled, "A negative," just as the doors slammed shut.

"What's her blood type?" one of the paramedics asked a few minutes later.

Duncan blanched, and then realized what Logan had yelled to him. "A negative."

The paramedic nodded, obviously pleased he knew the blood type, and recorded it as they sped down the street, siren screaming. Internally, every part of Duncan begged Veronica to be strong, to pull through this. She had to. Aaron couldn't win again. Especially not like this, in exactly the same way he beat Lilly.


End file.
